As per Budget 2018, the Government announced the consolidation of the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) and the Business-led Networks of Centres of Excellence (BL-NCE) programs with the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF). Innovation Canada is working with the NCE to implement these programming changes with minimal disruption to organizations currently funded by the CECR and BL-NCE programs.

In light of this, the NCE Secretariat will not be conducting any future call for proposals for the CECR and BL-NCE programs. I invite you to follow the link to SIF above to monitor potential funding opportunities.

The innovative Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) program bridges the challenging gap between innovation and commercialization. The program matches clusters of research expertise with the business community to share the knowledge and resources that bring innovations to market faster. Centres advance research and facilitate commercialization within four priority areas: the environment; natural resources and energy; health and life sciences; and information and communications technologies.

Centres adopt different models to best serve the commercialization needs of their sector, including acting as investors, incubators or service providers. With revenue sources that range from fee-for service and membership fees to product sales, royalties and equity in start-up companies, each CECR has a mandate to become self-sustaining while maximizing economic impact for its partners.

Quick facts

CECRs are led by a consortium that can include companies, academic institutions, not-for-profit research organizations, or other organizations.
Created in 2007, the CECR program invests $30 million per year in Canadian innovation.
The CECR program has attracted top commercialization talent and internationally recognized business leaders to Canada.
To ensure maximum return on research and development dollars, the CECR program covers costs that are not normally eligible under other federal research funding programs.
CECR investments are leveraged by the program’s matching requirements. They attract other funding, including direct foreign investment and venture capital to help move new technologies to market and grow innovative companies.

Learn more

Contact

E-mail: info@nce-rce.gc.ca